Transcript[]
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby
Tim is sitting in a lawn chair in his backyard. He is using a remote control to fly a small drone. Several model airplanes appear in the distance and approach his drone. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries plays.
TIM: Oh, no.
Moby leans from the window of a backyard treehouse. He has several extra arms, and they are all holding remotes for the approaching model planes. The planes shoot pellets at the drone, knocking it out of the air. Tim sighs, still holding his remote as a sheet of paper drifts from the sky next to him. He grabs it and reads from the typed letter.
TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, we just read about the Tuskegee Airmen, but our textbook didn't really say that much. Can you tell us more about them? From, Mrs. Cave's class. Hey, guys. The Tuskegee Airmen were America's first black military pilots.
An image shows a postcard with a black-and-white picture of the Tuskegee Airmen.
TIM: During World War II, they flew hundreds of dangerous missions in Africa and Europe. But they showed even more courage in fighting a homegrown enemy.
Moby stands next to Tim, holding one of his model planes.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: America was still a segregated society. African Americans were kept apart from whites, living as second-class citizens.
An image shows two restroom doors. One is labeled: colored. The other is labeled: white. Another image shows a laundromat with a sign reading: We wash for white people only.
TIM: In the South, this divide was codified through Jim Crow laws. Up north, segregation was preserved through informal rules.
A map shows the United States. An image over southern states represents Jim Crow laws. An image over northern states represents segregated neighborhoods.
TIM: In spite of this awful treatment, black men and women lined up to serve their country after Pearl Harbor.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Japan's raid on the Hawaiian naval air base shocked the nation.
An animation shows a sailor mopping the deck of a ship as Japanese fighter planes appear in the background.
TIM: America entered World War II the next day.
An animation shows the devastation of the Pearl Harbor attack.
TIM: In the years that followed, millions enlisted in the armed forces. Pilots were in especially high demand.
An animation shows a line of young men signing up for military service.
TIM: But like so many other opportunities, joining the Army Air Corps had always been closed to African Americans.
An animation shows an African American's enlistment application. The application's race box is checked: Negro. The application is stamped: Rejected.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Just as in civilian life, racism shaped America's armed forces. Officers questioned the fitness of the thousands of black soldiers who had served in World War I.
An animation displays old black-and-white film footage. It shows a large group of African-American soldiers, marching in formation.
TIM: The Army War College even released a report documenting their doubts. It said that during World War I, African-American troops showed a lack of initiative, leadership, and bravery.
An animation shows a military officer at a desk in an office. He examines a page in an open notebook. The page contains a checklist of qualities of African-American soldiers. He writes an F next to each of the following categories: Initiative, leadership, bravery, discipline, and creativity. Then he closes the notebook. Its cover reads: The Use of Negro Manpower in War.
TIM: The report was used to justify keeping black servicemen in low-level roles.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: African-American leaders were undeterred. They lobbied the government to expand opportunities for black soldiers.
The military officer's assistant opens the blinds behind the officer's desk. Outside, a group of protestors hold signs reading: Let Us Fly, Integrate the Army, and We Died for Our Country, Too.
TIM: In 1941, less than a year before Pearl Harbor, the Army Air Corps finally gave in.
An animation shows an African American's enlistment application. It is stamped: Rejected. The stamp changes to: Accepted.
TIM: It would accept African Americans into its ranks.
An animation shows a smiling African American being accepted into the Army Air Corps.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, they had permission to be pilots, but they didn't get much support. They would serve in segregated units, apart from white servicemen. The first of these was the 99th Fighter Squadron, led by Benjamin Davis, Jr.
An animation shows Davis inspecting his African-American troops. They salute as he passes them.
TIM: Its pilots were trained at the Tuskegee Institute, a renowned black college in Alabama. That's why the 99th soon became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Segregation was just one of the obstacles they faced. Top military brass viewed the Tuskegee Program as an experiment. Something more for show than actual combat. So, they kept delaying the 99th's deployment.
An animation shows a military officer with several folders under his arm. The cover of each folder reads: Confidential Mission Briefing. He walks past two white officers and gives them each a folder. Then he walks past Benjamin Davis and gives him nothing.
TIM: Tuskegee commanders had to petition and plead to take part in active combat. When they finally entered the fray, it was far from the war's main center of action. Equipped with outdated aircraft, they were limited to ground attacks. So they rarely encountered enemy planes for air-to-air battles.
An animation shows a white military officer giving Benjamin Davis a battle assignment for his squadron. Davis opens the folder and looks skeptical as he examines the assignment. Then he closes the folder and salutes the assigning officer.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Some supervisors twisted that into a sign of poor performance. One even wrote a report accusing the Airmen of cowardice. He recommended they be sent home and demoted to non-combat roles.
An animation shows a military officer typing, compiling a report, and giving it to his commander. The commander reads the report carefully.
TIM: But the Air Corps determined that the criticisms were totally unfounded.
The commander throws the report into a wastepaper basket.
TIM: The 99th was as capable as any other squadron. It was soon assigned to escort bombers across the Mediterranean.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: The massive planes were slow and vulnerable to enemy fire. Zippier solo fighters flew nearby to defend them.
An animation shows several of the large and small planes that Tim describes, flying near one another.
TIM: The 99th wasted little time in proving they belonged. Diving, weaving, and soaring as they took out German warplanes!
An animation shows an air battle between the Ninety-Ninth squadron and German fighter planes.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: The success helped the 99th expand their operations. They joined up with three other black squadrons and were issued red-tailed P-51 fighters.
An animation shows members of the four black squadrons walking together toward an aircraft hangar. The hangar door opens, showing the red-tailed fighter planes Tim describes.
TIM: Together, they developed a top-notch record for escorting bombers.
An animation shows the 99th escorting bombers, as Tim describes.
TIM: Other pilots often left formation to chase enemy planes and personal glory. The Red Tails were known for sticking by bombers, protecting them at all costs. Bombing crews began requesting them for missions. Pretty soon, they were making headlines back home. One pilot, Robert Deiz, even made it onto one of those cool old war posters.
An animation shows a poster with an image of Robert Deiz. Text on the poster reads: Keep us Flying. Buy War Bonds. Two African-American boys run past the poster, playing with toy planes.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: The attention and praise were not lost on the pilots. Showing they could fly, and fly well, was a victory for all African Americans.
An animation shows a smiling African-American man in a diner, reading a newspaper's headline that praises the Red Tails.
TIM: But it also meant that any mistake would be put under a microscope. One mission in particular solidified the Red Tails' reputation: a bombing run on a tank factory deep inside Germany.
An animation shows the Red Tails flying a night mission, dropping several bombs on their target.
TIM: The bombs were dropped, and the target was destroyed. Suddenly, strange streaks appeared in the sky.
Streaks of light and smoke fly past the squadron.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Nazi jetfighters, the first ever used in combat! Other warplanes were propeller-driven. Jet engines gave the German planes more power and speed, but they were also much less nimble, and Roscoe Brown took notice.
An animation shows pilot Roscoe Brown flying his plane, frowning as Nazi fighters fly past him. Then he smiles.
TIM: He quickly dove down out of the jets' line of sight, then pulled up to attack from below.
Brown flies downward and shoots at a Nazi jet from below, destroying it.
TIM: He was the first American pilot to down a jet. His fellow fighters took out two more that day, earning the Red Tails a Distinguished Unit Citation!
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Actually, all that fame and fanfare didn't really change much back home. The Airmen returned to a nation that was still segregated.
An animation shows white servicemen returning home, descending from a ship to a cheering crowd. The African-American servicemen descend from the same ship along a separate gangway, but nobody is there to cheer for them. The image zooms to a Tuskegee pilot, Charles Hall, at the front of the line.
TIM: Charles Hall, the first Red Tail to shoot down an enemy plane, applied to be a pilot at every major airline. None hired him, or any other black aviator. Still, members of the 99th did manage to find success.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Hall eventually built a career in the Federal Aviation Administration. Robert Deiz worked as a test pilot and aeronautical engineer. Roscoe Brown became a professor and a college president. And Benjamin Davis, Junior served as the Air Force's first African-American general.
Images show Deiz, Brown, and Davis.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Yep. Thanks to pioneers like the Red Tails, the armed services integrated shortly after the war.
A newspaper headline reads: Truman Integrates Military.
TIM: It was an early victory for the budding Civil Rights Movement.
A newspaper headline reads: Court Bans Segregation in Public School Cases.
TIM: In the decades to come, the federal government would expand its role in protecting the rights of African Americans.
A newspaper headline reads: LBJ Signs Civil Rights Bill.
TIM: And the rights of other marginalized groups.
A newspaper headline reads: LGBT Welcome in Military.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Yeah, injustice never just ends overnight. It takes brave people to challenge it, and show everyone else that there's another way.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby holds a remote control. He is flying one of his model planes. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries plays.
TIM: Shhh. Do you hear that?
A female robot peeks at them from the other side of the backyard fence. She holds a remote and sends a drone that fires pellets at Moby's plane. The plane is shot to the ground. The female robot laughs.
TIM: That's a shame.